Tightening up a stick

[black mariah]

I have one of those Japanese style Saturn Virtua Sticks that I've hacked a DC pad into. Great controll, except the joystick feels a bit loose. Is there any easy way to tighten it up without just replacing it?

[Dave_K.]

Depends on the stick, and your definition of "tighten". You can replace the spring on most sticks to make the action a bit stiffer/stronger feeling. You can also wrap tape around the bottom of the stick (the part that contacts the microswitches) to shorten the stick's "throw" (amount of movement to microswitch activation).

[black mariah]

Yeah, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the spring rate, not the throw. The throw is actually a bit shorter than I'd like because the stick isn't very long, but there's not much I can do about that short of replacement. I'll crack it open again later and see what can be found out about spring replacement. I'm sure I have something suitable around here somewhere.